In re ACTOS Antitrust Litigation
- Ronnie Abrams
- 1:13-cv-09244
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 3
In re ACTOS Antitrust Litigation: Judge Aaron granted in part and denied in part plaintiffs’ deposition motion, granted sealing, and scheduled a conference.
The order affected the plaintiffs, Takeda, Mr. Buonaiuto, Mr. Inaba, and the parties’ access to materials containing sensitive business information.
What happened
In In re ACTOS Antitrust Litigation, the plaintiffs asked the court to resolve disputes about depositions and to seal related materials. The dispute included whether Takeda had to produce particular witnesses and what topics one witness would address.
The court granted in part and denied in part the plaintiffs’ letter motion. It ordered Takeda to produce Mr. Buonaiuto as its corporate representative for a deposition lasting no more than 14 hours, prepared to address topics 1 through 7 beginning March 30, 2010. It also ordered Takeda to produce Mr. Inaba for a deposition outside Japan.
The court granted the plaintiffs’ motion to seal, finding the requested redactions and sealing were narrowly tailored to protect sensitive business information. Judge Aaron also directed the parties to attend a telephone conference on April 21, 2023, about another pending letter motion.
The detailed version
- In re ACTOS Antitrust Litigation · No. 1:13-cv-09244
- Ronnie Abrams
- Apr. 11, 2023
Background
The plaintiffs filed a letter motion concerning deposition disputes and a related motion to seal. After a telephone conference with the parties, the court ruled on the deposition issues based on the reasons stated during that conference.
Deposition Rulings
The court granted in part and denied in part the plaintiffs’ letter motion. As agreed during the telephone conference, Takeda was ordered to produce Mr. Buonaiuto as its representative under Rule 30(b)(6), a rule allowing a corporation to designate a person to testify about specified topics. The deposition could not exceed 14 hours.
The court also ordered Takeda’s Rule 30(b)(6) representative to be prepared to testify about topics 1 through 7 for the period beginning March 30, 2010.
The court further found that the plaintiffs had presented enough evidence to show at least a close question about whether Mr. Inaba was Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited’s managing agent. The court referred to Mr. Inaba’s position and his role concerning the ACTOS patents. It therefore ordered Takeda to produce Mr. Inaba for a deposition outside Japan, consistent with the court’s November 5, 2022 order.
Sealing Ruling
The court granted the plaintiffs’ motion to seal. It recognized that the public generally has a right to access judicial documents, but that the right is not absolute. The court found that the proposed redactions and sealing requests were narrowly tailored to prevent unauthorized disclosure of sensitive business information.
Further Proceedings and Disposition
The parties were directed to appear for a telephone conference on April 21, 2023, at 2:00 p.m. concerning the letter motion pending at ECF Nos. 479/481. Judge Stewart D. Aaron therefore granted in part and denied in part the plaintiffs’ letter motion, granted the motion to seal, and scheduled the additional conference.
Read the full 3-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.